Forensic Force

Who's chasing who? Safety tips for foot pursuits

An officer detains an active parolee gang member for questioning and during the detention the suspect suddenly runs. The officer chases the suspect for two blocks, observes the suspect to be grabbing into his shorts pocket. The suspect yells out to the officer that he is armed and will shoot the officer. The officer tackles the suspect, there is a violent struggle for the weapon and the officer shoots and kills the suspect.

An officer attempts to affect an enforcement stop on a motorist for a hit and run accident. The driver fails to yield and stop at the first available opportunity, drives to a park and then suddenly foot bails into the park. The lone officer chases after the suspect into the park where the officer is subsequently shot and killed.

The situations described above are similar circumstances each resulting in opposite tragic and deadly consequences. Why does this continue to happen?

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Chasing suspects on foot can -- and does -- result in serious injury or death to officers every year, causing some LE agencies around the country to rethink their foot pursuit policies or reinvent them to help keep officers alive.

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Who’s Chasing Who?Foot pursuits by their very nature are highly emotionally charged and dangerous events that occur frequently in police work. Police officers must balance their obligation to enforce laws and arrest perpetrators with their personal safety. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. More often than not, officers become emotionally captured in the event and have an instinctive reaction, rather than a studied and planned response to resistance and chase without considering the inevitability of suspect capture.

In other words, they chase the suspect until the suspect catches them.

Officers should remind themselves that what they often do not know about the people they are chasing and the environment the foot pursuit takes place can seriously hurt or kill the officer.

What officers may not know about the suspect they are chasing include:

• What if anything they may be wanted for • If they are armed • What the suspect's martial arts or fighting skills are • If the suspect is in better physical shape than the officer is • If the suspect is psychotic • If the suspect is under the influence of drugs — such as powerful stimulants, or PCP • Where the suspect may be taking the officer to — such as an area of ambush • If there are other suspects the officer is not aware of who can aid the suspect

Reducing the Reactionary GapOfficers need to remember that at the same time that they are catching up to the suspect, they are also reducing the "reactionary gap" between themselves and the suspect. Reactionary gap is the distance between the officer and suspect, compared to the officer’s ability to defensively react to something the suspect might do to them. Shorten the distance and the officer shortens his/her reaction time. This is almost always dangerous for the officer.

The public sees so many foot pursuits on live television that they, and unfortunately the officers themselves, fail to realize just how inherently dangerous these foot pursuits really are. The situation for the officer and suspect can literally and irrevocably change in the blink of an eye and can have fatal consequences for each.

A review of 2006 FBI statistics on officers killed in the line of duty indicates that 38 percent of all officers killed in the U.S. occurred during a crime in progress where the officer was affecting an arrest, and 60 percent of all officers killed under such circumstances were acting alone. Further, 68 percent of those officers were killed at night — 70 percent of officers are killed by handguns from distances of 15 feet or less. Other statistics show that in a physical confrontation with a suspect, officers end up on the ground 86 percent of the time, where 25 percent are seriously injured and 12 percent are killed with their own weapons such as handguns and batons.

These are certainly not favorable survival statistics for the officer.

So what should the officer do when a suspect runs from them? Here are a few officer safety tips:

• Get on the radio immediately and call for assistance — do not wait to do this • Put out a good description of the suspect and their direction of travel • Slow down and carry on a moving surveillance of the fleeing suspect from a distance that allows for a lot of reactionary gap time • If you lose sight of the suspect, stop, find cover/concealment, arm yourself and set up a perimeter while waiting for back-up • Get centered, check in with yourself and get back into forebrain cognitive processing — reduce your breathing and heart rate, work on getting out of tunnel vision and diminished hearing, and make a plan or review your plan and then engage it • Let the suspect tire out from running; let them experience the reduced vision and hearing instead of you • Call for a K-9 unit and or a helicopter if available to search for the suspect • Remember that it is usually not a matter of if you will catch the suspect; just when you will catch them

Suspects usually go to ground and hide soon after an officer loses sight of them. Setting up a perimeter and using a K-9 and/or air support to find the suspect has historically proven to be the most successful method of capture.

There is never a good reason for an officer to get injured or killed during foot pursuits. If officers can just remember a few of these important tips, they will make it home safe and alive.

Stay safe out there!

About the author

Ron Martinelli, Ph.D., is a former police officer and detective with over 22 years of street experience primarily with the San Jose (Calif.) Police Department. Dr. Martinelli, is a former director of a POST academy and a multi-certified use of force instructor who is also a forensic criminologist and a federal and state qualified police practices expert specializing in officer-involved shootings and major uses of force. He is NCCM Board Certified in Forensic Trauma, holds diplomate status in the Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, is a Certified Force Analyst with the Force Science Center® and is a recognized member of the American College of Forensic Experts Institute. Dr. Martinelli is nationally recognized as a subject matter expert in psychophysiology and officer stress-induced responses.